Tears blur my vision as specks of our childhood memories seem to flash in front of me. They are filled with laughter, mostly his. Just a while ago that we had spent having fun at the festival with his brother, the King....and now...this.
I point the arrow towards his chest, a little bit far from his heart. A foolish hope in me, that if he just pretended to die he can still live a quiet life, brew inside me.
He's not going to let go. I know that.
I don't want this. Please....once more...
One more desperate cry. "CASSIAN!"
"CHOOSE! Eve," he roars, tightening the hold of his magic around their necks. And although I didn't hear his voice. I could read his mouth. "...choose please Eve..."
I have no choice.
I could see the frantic movements of my knights' hands in an effort to free themselves and it somehow helped strengthen my resolve. These people follow and trust me. I can't turn my back on them. The answer is set in stone, no matter how much I despise it.
I breathe in and as I let my breath go in despair, so did my arrow. He releases my knights almost at the same time and as if he knows of my foolishness, he shifts his body to the left just in time as my arrow struck his heart. The smile of content on his pale white face, while he was falling, couldn't escape my eyes.
I couldn't see anyone else but his still figure on the ground. His blood, just like the blood of his companions, stain the concrete of the plaza but I didn't care. My body moves on its own.
I drop my weapon and run to him. I could hear the groans of my knights whom he had just released but I didn't spare them a glance.
When I got to where he is, blood is dripping out of his mouth but he could still recognize me. My tears begin racing down as I reach for his hand. He catches it mid-air, then he throws me a bitter smile.
"I'm sorry..." came my brittle whisper.
"Do you know what my greatest regret is, Eve?" he asks but no words would come out from my quivering lips. He squeezes my hand to comfort me and then continues.
"I shouldn't have allowed a monster like me to meet a lovely person like you...I never deserved such luxury...and it seems like I owe another debt I won't be able to repay..." his voice begins to fade and I pull him towards me as if that would stop him from dying.
In his ragged breathing, he says, "...don't...hate...your...self...Eve," with that, his hand loosens its grip on mine and those green eyes that were once full of playful mischief dull almost immediately.
"Cass?" I say barely louder than a whisper in between my silent tears.
But he won't smile when I call him that anymore. He won't urge me to go on late-night walks in the garden while ranting about how the people in his palace treated him, he won't talk about his dream of a simple life in a province far away, he won't be bugging me in my office during working hours anymore, he won't be there at the rare moments of me crying all alone, and...nobody would see me as 'Eve' anymore because everyone else sees me as the Chosen.
I felt a light touch on my shoulder. "Captain?"
I look up to see Freya staring down at me with an unpleasant look on her face.
She says, "The corpses of the black mages are not turning into ashes."
I stop. For the first time since Cassian fell to the ground, I begin to notice my surroundings again and what she said is true.
But that can't be right. Once the Supreme dies, all of the mages who practice black magic should have turned into ashes. That's why the King wanted his brother dead, to get rid of the black mages once and for all. He said it was for the future of the kingdom.
A pang of regret floods through every bit of my being when I realize what is happening. As I look at the bodies sprawled on the floor while still holding Cassian, my tears drop again.
"I-it wasn't him..." I mutter to myself. "...but the King, he said..."
This is not happening
"no..." I shake my head. "...no, no,no," my voice was getting louder. Everything is thrown into chaos. I hug Cassian's body tighter as it dawned on me.
"No!" I scream. I didn't even recognize that it was my voice until a little bit later.
This isn't making any sense. The King told me he is certain about this. I asked over and over again. I told him it can't be his brother. But there was evidence.
Did the King lie?
But he looked so conflicted about it too.
Then, were we tricked?
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